LEISURE TEA

With DH and 2 older daughters away tracking in Nepal, I took the 2 young ones to shopping followed by leisure lunch and tea.  We ordered a promotional high-tea special which included choice of tea and a plate of fresh scones and sandwiches, plus 2 cold drinks.

Snow Tea - Complete with milk and sugar

Special Tea Set

Raisin & chocolate chip scones, tuna & egg sandwiches and open ham sandwiches.   The strawberry jam was the best I ever tasted.   Not too sweet with a slight sourish taste and pair well with thick cream.

Citrus Apple Paradise - minty and tangy

Fruity Delight

BAN CHAN KUIH - 麵 煎 粿

Ban Chan Kueh was common snack for breakfast during my younger days.  Peanut & sugar  was the only available choice of fillings and usually I scrapped out the fillings and ate only the dough.  I dislike peanuts which always stuck to the teeth and caused discomfort.

There are variety of choices nowadays to choose from.

Thick dough with overwhelming peanut fillings

Come in different shape - enclosed like curry puff

My favorite - shredded coconut with brown sugar

FRESH MUSHROOMS

A simple stir-fry fresh oyster, enoki and straw mushrooms with carrots.

AH BALLING - 湯 圓

I always thought that ah balling was eaten sweet until I married my husband when his family cooked ah balling in savory soup which consisted of cabbage, scallop and pork consumed during the winter solstice period.

Ah balling was only eaten once a year in the old days and every family had to use ready made grounded wet glutinous rice dough bought from the market sold on the day of winter solstice, as there was no instant glutinous rice ball where you can buy from the supermarkets at any time of the year nowadays.  The dough came in pink and white colors and had an unpleasant fermented smell.  I remembered helping my mum prepared the dough by kneading and rolling to form into small balls, without fillings, and cooked in syrup.

Besides instant packet rice balls you can also enjoy a hot bowl of ready made ah balling in hawker stalls and 茶 餐 聽 and they come in varieties of fillings and soup.

Balls in ginger sweet soup - warm the stomach

Ah Balling with red bean fillings

Ah balling with yam fillings

Ah balling in almond milk - sophisticated

Matcha ah balling in peanut soup - innovative

“ANTS CLIMB TREE " - 螞 蟻 上 樹

No idea why the dish is named such.  Although photo does not do justice it is delicious.

Cut marrow into strips, stir fry dried shrimps and garlic, add in marrow.

Mix thoroughly and add seasoning, soaked mushroom and in 1/4 bowl of water.

Cover wok and simmer till marrow is soft.

Stir in tanghoon (soak tanghoon till expanded) and lastly add in spring onions.

THAI EXPRESS

2Thai Express, in my opinion, is considered a fast food chain.  To have authentic Thai cuisine I would prefer to eat in Thanying or Rama Thai.

Mango Salad

Sambal Kangkong - No kick

Green Curry - Watery

Soft Shell Crab With Tanghoon

Soft Shell Crab Curry Rice

FRIED TAU-KAU

I hate frying food as it is very tedious cleaning up and the oil splashed everywhere, but sometimes when it is the fried food that my family enjoys eating, I will try to fry.  It is very messy to fry tau-kwa as it contains water.

Deep fry tau-kwa is one of the children's favorite food.   Moisture is removed, pat dry and coated lightly with corn flour  before deep fry.

Chopped chillies, onions, tomatoes, garlic and lemon grass are mixed together with fish sauce, plum sauce, sugar and water. Pour the sauce over the tau-kwa.

SAY CHEEZE

Nothing beats doing things together as a family, create a strong bondage.

A trendy and neat cafe patronize by youngsters.  A set meal with addition of $5 includes a drink and soup, and each main meal comes with 2 types of side vegetables.

Ice Lemon Tea - Our favourite

Mushroom Cream Soup - A bit bland but with bits of mushroom

Minestrone Soup - Tangy and thick, appetizing

  Coffee Ribs - Tender with coffee aroma, sides of creamy potatoes and saffron rice

Chicken Treasure - grilled chicken in brown sauce with potato salad and mushroom

Herbal Salmon - Grilled salmon in salsa sauce

Salmon Risotto - Flavorful with chunks of salmon

Wild Mushroom Pasta - fresh mushroom and tender asparagus

Lastly dessert to die forApple Tumble - Apple cheesecake with raspberry sauce

Awaken your taste bud and cannot stop eating

Passion Mousse - Cheesecake encased in a thin layer of orange mousse

STRAWBERRY PIE

Strawberries costing $2.50 per punnet. Right time to indulge in homemade delicious pie. Sweet pastry recipe was from Doreen Greenspan and filling of custard cream at my previous post on "Berries Puff Pastries" at http://makan-mania.blogspot.com/2008/10/berries-puff-pastries.hmtl.

AWFULLY CHOCOLATE

Awfully chocolate birthday cake - sensuous with cherries and rum.

SWEET SUPPER

Supper at a stroke of midnight - Pecan pudding in caramel for Cinderella, sizzling hot!

Dense pudding in sweet nutty caramel with ice-cream.